Uefa sets May 25 deadline

LONDON • European football leagues have been given a May 25 deadline to inform governing body Uefa of their plans to restart their domestic competitions.

Football has ground to a halt in all major leagues in Europe and none has yet to resume. But Uefa is keen to start planning for next season's European club tournaments.

In a letter to the 55 federations in Uefa, its president Aleksander Ceferin wrote that any league cancelling its season would need to produce a list of teams that have qualified for European club competitions, also by May 25.

He said they would need to inform Uefa of the restart date and "the relevant competition format".

"In the event that a domestic competition is to be prematurely terminated for legitimate reasons... Uefa would require the national association to explain by May 25 the special circumstances justifying such premature termination and to select clubs for the Uefa club competitions 2020-21 on the basis of sporting merit in the 2019-20 domestic competitions," he added.

Uefa last week outlined "legitimate reasons" for an abandoned season. These include:

•Existence of an official order prohibiting sports events, so that the domestic competitions cannot be completed before a date that would make it possible to finish the current season in good time before the next season commences.

•Insurmountable economic problems which make finishing the season impossible because it would put at risk the long-term financial stability of the domestic competition and/or clubs. National associations and leagues have a couple of options to determine the final standings, including qualification for the Champions League and Europa League, for any campaign that is concluded early.

Current standings can be considered final while a points-per-game system - where the average number of points won from games played is used as the figure with which to rank clubs - can be used.

Uefa stressed that the criteria should be based on "objective, transparent and non-discriminatory principles".

While leagues such as the German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A and English Premier League say they want to finish their seasons, the Dutch Eredivisie cut short its season last Friday.

Yesterday, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe banned all sporting events, including behind closed doors, until September, reported the BBC. The move dashed the plans of French football leaders, who were hoping to restart Ligue 1 and 2 by June 17.

REUTERS